Military Ammo Is Being Sold To The Public As Surplus

June 17, 1999|By WILLIAM GAINES AND BOB SECTER Chicago Tribune

Excess military stockpiles of highly destructive .50-cal. armor-piercing ammunition are being resold to the public through a little-known government program, according to a congressional report released on Wednesday.

More than 100,000 rounds of the ammunition -- designed for long-range military sniper weapons and capable of blasting a hole in a tank from more than a mile away -- made their way from military caches to civilian weapons dealers in the last year alone, the study said.

"The investigation showed that the U.S. military is indirectly arming civilians with some of the most powerful and destructive ammunition currently available," said the report, commissioned by two Democratic gun control advocates, Rep. Rod Blagojevich of Chicago and Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles.

The study's summary, relying heavily on findings of an undercover investigation conducted through the congressional General Accounting Office, said the Pentagon is selling excess and obsolete stocks of the brass-covered shells for $1 per ton to a West Virginia company under what is known as the conventional demilitarization program.

The firm, Talon Manufacturing Co., dismantles most of the shells and sells them for scrap, but some are reassembled and sold to buyers that range from the militaries of Brazil and Colombia to civilian weapons dealers in the United States, according to the report. Last year, Talon even sold 35,000 rounds of refurbished .50-cal. projectiles back to the U.S. military, which had discarded them in the first place.

The report said the refurbished .50-caliber military shells and the bulky weapons used to fire them can easily be purchased through gun shops and over the Internet.

Blagojevich, who tried unsuccessfully last year to ban the civilian sale of surplus M-1s and other military weapons, said he hoped his new report would increase the pressure on the Pentagon.

"Its my personal view that the purpose of the United States military is to provide for the national security," Blagojevich said. "It is not to augment the use of weapons on the street."

GAO agents were equipped with hidden recording devices, which captured several dealers on tape willing to make sales even after agents stated they were looking for something that packed enough punch to pierce an armored limousine or take out a helicopter in flight.